A Vintage Girl

December 21, 2017

American Crafts, Prima Marketing, Hambly Studios, WOW Glitter and so much more!To subscribe head on over to www.BadGirlsCouture.com!

This layout is of my honey and me at an outdoor concert a few years back. This is one of my favorite photos of us.To see more closeups go to https://badgirlscouture.com/some-serious-bad-ass-fussy-cutting/

This vintage Archie Comic Book mini album was made in-house by the Bad Girls Couture team. This was so much fun to create with, anything that is vintage has my heart. To see more about it and close ups, visit the blog post at https://badgirlscouture.com/vintage-comic-book-mini-album-with-pizazz/

This layout was part of the team challenge, I squealed just a little bit to get some vintage Hambly Studios in this kit and used the inspiration for color, the clean lines and minimalistic look. To see what the team created and the magazine cover that inspired it go to https://badgirlscouture.com/welcome-to-the-december-bad-girls-dt-challenge/

November 06, 2017

This month is all about holiday decor. All my littles are grown and out of the house and only have a few close family members so Thanksgiving is a little different. But I still try to do some decorating for the fall season, since it's my favorite time of the year and colors. With Etchall Dip n' Etch nothing is safe in my home...I got these fall glasses at the dollar store but wanted to gussy it up a bit. Check out how simple this is and what an incredible difference it made...

Look at the beautiful etching on the top and bottom of the glasses. It really is as simple as using blue tape to mask off the middle printed area and hold the glass in the etching liquid for 15 minutes.

October 25, 2017

I was really excited to receive the Etchall® Dip n' Etch as my mind was racing with what I could do with it. I perused our local dollar store and found some super cute bottles and wanted to make them into Fall decor for the table. They were a perfect match for this product. The Dip n' Etch is so amazingly easy that I kind of felt guilty. I felt like it should be harder to get this amazing finish, but I quickly stopped complaining.

I etched these two bottles 2/3 of the way and then added canvas, flowers, and embellies to give it a fall look.

I apologize for the bit darker than normal photographs but I did the main etching at home, I wanted my family to see what I was making. There are not very many steps to this as it is so very easy to do but I wanted to share this. Gather your supplies. Read the instructions on the Etchall product container.

I poured the correct amount of Dip n' Etch liquid and dipped it into the container as instructed. Held it there for 15 minutes, I put a heavy object on top to keep the bottle from rising out of the liquid.

And this was the amazing result:

Once I was able to get back in the studio, I cut strips of a Canvas Corp Brands canvas sheet, added May Arts Jute Ribbon, and some beautiful Prima flowers and beads to complete the look.

When I took these bottles out to take photos, I was amazed how the blended in with the Fall Foliage, you can barely see them.

October 20, 2017

A little over five years ago, I worked with The Rubber Cafe in creating some vintage-inspired red rubber stamps. It was my first experience in designing stamps and it was a lot of work, as some images were actual items that I digitized into a stamp image, etc.but what an incredible experience and one I am grateful for. We started out with a couple of vintage images and some single stamps and added quite a few more along the way. I can vividly remember the first time I opened the package and was balling my eyes out, then I stamped each one at a time on white cardstock but could hardly see what I was doing through the tears. Thank you Melissa, I will always be grateful for that.

I am in the process of reviving a few of these and working on some new collections, have many details to work out but excited to be on this journey again.

Here is a set of Artist Trading Cards that I made last night using my own stamps. That was a first and so much fun! Hope you enjoy them.

You can also see some of the designs both of stamps and chipboard that I did at http://candyscraps.typepad.com/photos/product_design/index.html

Here are a few of the single stamps, I loved the background ones and the corset was their best selling stamp throughout the five years they sold it. I don't have very many photos and don't even own a set of all that I made so these are all I got to share.

I have twelve sets of stamps in the photo below. Some larger sets, background and singles.

This is me five years ago holding a few of them at the Portland Scrapbook Expo,

I will keep you posted on the upcoming collections, just know they are going to be something different, epic and meaningful!

October 18, 2017

This month the Designer Crafts Connection team worked with Amazing Casting Products to create with their amazing casting resin, dyes, and Alumidust. I had a brand new Prima mold sitting on my desk screaming for attention, so I knew just what I was going to do. I had not used many molds in my time so it was a little new to me. After waiting overnight I was pretty excited to see how they came out, my jaw was on the floor, needless to say. So let me show you what I did and how I did it!

Add 10-15 drops of the dye into the already mixed resin to get the black color.

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Mix very well

Pour into the mold. I used a popsicle stick so that I can control the amount that goes into each mold.

On two of the molds I dusted the inside with the Alumidust first and this is the stunning result.

This is how it looks coming out the mold. I am floored at how beautiful the color is. As I am making these I am not sure which one I am going to use until the end.

I chose this particular one that goes beautifully with a pair of silver metal wings from Prima Marketing, Inc and attached some fun May Arts Ribbon to finish off the necklace.

This is a second pendant that I am now working on. I just love the look of the Alumidust when applied first in the mold before pouring the resin. It is stunning!

Thank you for stopping by, be sure to visit all the other designers that I have listed below that have participated in this hop. Also visit our main site and check out the awesome coupon that is only available through the site.

October 05, 2017

If you follow me you will know that I am delving into the art of Encaustic wax (youtube this, prepare to be amazed) and had this awesome skull digital print and with Halloween just around the corner, well here you have it! This was a lot of fun to make and has so many layers. I love how the wax makes it look even spookier.

I am using the digital print, DecoArt Americana Matte Black paint, a cut piece of cardboard. I paint the background as the print is just slightly smaller than the cardboard piece. After the paint dries, adhere the print to the cardboard. Be sure that you use an adhesive that will cover the entire surface otherwise you will get raised areas like I did.

Start adding the Encaustic wax and fuse in between the layers. Do this until you get the look you want. I then added a red tinted wax around the edges and fused.

I added some carved lines to later enhance and carved out the area of the eyes and teeth to show dimension. Fuse it to melt the edges so they are no so sharp.

Using a burnt umber pigment stick rub where the carved lines are. Then wipe off with a paper towel, then a baby wipe to take off all the excess.

I added Prima Marketing, Inc. flowers and leaves to recreate the headpiece. I quickly decided that I wanted it to have a rust effect and painted Finnibair Rust Paste over the flowers.

A Close up of the wax.

I hope you enjoyed this Spooky project. Be sure to visit our sponsors as they are the ones that make the products that make the magic!

August 29, 2017

For those that know and follow me, you all know that I am truly a vintage girl! I have recently been gifted these amazing small vintage school books from the early 1900s that are so small they fit in my hand and shared them a couple of months ago on my Facebook. They found a home on my mantle but something was missing.

I received the DecoFun bow maker for a fun blog hop and put my thinking cap on how I could do something different with a bow. A way to show it off and be practical at the same time. I got this beautiful brown ribbon to use which made me very happy. I walked around my house for inspiration when I zeroed right in on my mantel and how the books were cool up there but needed some pizazz. I had just the right project in mind at that moment.

If you look closely on the far left is a Steampunk Couple that my good friend, Kristie Coleman got me early this summer. It will make a nice cake topper someday, cuz you know I am doing it Vintage Steampunk Style!

When you get your DecoFun bow maker it looks like this. All together and SUPER DUPER easy. Follow the 2-3 steps and you have yourself a beautiful basic bow. You can do different styles but I am just not that coordinated today.

August 07, 2017

I was searching through all my beautiful Indigoblu UK stamps for inspiration, I ran across the one below and it made me think of the sun and the moon and in honor of the upcoming SOLAR ECLIPSE, I created a set of three Artist Trading Cards that will be swapped all over the world.

Stamp the bubbles on the background with black ink and add the liquid pearls in the little circles randomly. Then spray with DecoArt spray to give it a splash of color to create these intergalactic cards.

Look at the cool planetary effect the liquid pearls gives on the cards.

July 27, 2017

I was asked to be a part of this fun blog hop with Thermoweb and their latest designer brand mixed media products with Rebekah Meier. What I received was a wonderful variety of mixed media papers, tape, and medium to create with. Be sure to hop to the other designers at the end of this post and back to the Designer Craft Connection blog for more inspiration!

As I pondered the supplies in front of me, I had my art journal out to the side where I had just finished up a starter set of pages with stencils and paints. So I thought about how I can use a stencil with the transfer foil and create a couple of mixed media journal pages. So I got to work...

Using a paper stencil from Faber Castell, I started with the lettering in the middle of a sheet of sticky back art paper. I use the mixed media medium to get the adhesive in all the lettering.

I then used one of my favorite stencils, roses and used the same medium throughout the outside of the art paper until it was all covered. I let this dry for overnight as the application is thick, I wanted the texture as well as the stickiness. In the morning the stickiness was perfect for the next process of adding the transfer foil.

I then started to apply the various colors of transfer foil, gold, silver and tin throughout the sheet. I wanted a rustic, shabby chic feel so I did not rub the transfer foil real hard so that it was NOT full coverage.

Once the foil was done, I used Prima watercolors to color the entire page. The art paper took the watercolor beautifully.

Now for preparing the art journal pages. I added Indigoblu stamps and Tattered Angels sprays to give it a mixed media look. I do not have to worry about the center too much as the large art sheet is going to cover most of it. The accents are going to poke out around the edges.

Once I completed the background and let it dry, I cut the art sheet in half so that it would fit across both pages of my art journal.

Now it's time to adhere them to the pages. Turn it over and peel off the back to expose the adhesive side.

Place down on each side of the pages being mindful of the book closing so that it does not go to the other page and ruin the paper.

Now add strips of quotes and words around the perimeter of the art sheet to make a frame. I added additional pieces in various spaces as well.

To make the text and quotes stand out, use a charcoal pencil and outline the text boxes.

Check out what a few of the other Designer Craft Connection Designers created:

July 03, 2017

I am relatively new to art journaling and dab in it from time to time when I feel there is no other medium that can take the art I want to throw at it. It allows me to use as many or as little product that I want to use and the textures, mediums and outcomes are limitless. This is true mixed media in action.

Now that I am ready, It's time to throw it all at the art journal pages,

NO LIMITS!

PAINTS! WATERCOLORS! PIGMENTS! Bring it On!

First, I prepped the pages of the journal with bits and pieces of scrapbook paper, brown bag and leftovers from other projects using Mod Podge to adhere to the journal pages. I like to use a palette knife to spread white gesso on the page like I would texturing a wall, not covering it completely.

Once dried, I started with the acrylic paint, watered down a bit. Covering most of the surface.

Once covered in the metallic acrylic paint, I added an orange and red spray to give it more depth and coverage. I let some of the bottom papers show through.

Now its time for stencils, using the lustre product I spread it with my fingers randomly across the open letters and numbers.

TIP: It is always good practice to use some blue tape to hold down your stencil. This prevents a slip and mishap from happening.

The metallic lustre is added with your fingers across the open portion of the stencil.

Once dry, I added some additional texture with gel medium and another stencil. Covered in mist and watercolor to add the dimension.

To complete the pages, I cut and adhered some great words from Melody Ross's journaling book from Brave Girls Camp, added some enhancement to make them pop out and a few stamps around the pages.